Enron looks heavenly to newest Astro Castilla

Wall of dreams

Published 5:30 am, Saturday, May 19, 2001

As he stepped into the batter's box for the first time to try his luck at the short left-field wall in Enron Field, Vinny Castilla couldn't help but show his excitement by flashing a smile.

Three hours before the first pitch of Friday's game, the newest Astro was breaking the silence of the empty stadium by pinging balls off the light poles and railroad tracks high above the field during batting practice.

"It was beautiful," Castilla said. "It's a beautiful park and a good place to be. I'm excited and can't wait to go out there."

After spending a miserable 2000 season with Tampa Bay, Castilla hopes a simple change of scenery will help him recapture the magic that made him one of baseball's most feared hitters with the Colorado Rockies from 1995-1999.

"I was very unhappy in Tampa, and I'm glad I'm out of there now and happy to be here," said Castilla, who signed with the Astros after the Devil Rays worked a deal to release him earlier this week. "Hopefully, things will work out."

Castilla hit just .221 with six homers and 42 RBIs during an injured-filled season last year after batting .302 with 191 homers and 562 RBIs during a five-year stretch with the Rockies that rivaled the best of any third baseman in history.

"Early in spring training I pulled a rib-cage muscle, and after that I had terrible at-bats in spring training," Castilla said. "When my ribs healed, my back started to bother me, and I tried to play through it, and my swing wasn't there.

"It was a miserable year. We had a lot of problems, and it wasn't a good situation in Tampa, and I'm happy to be here and in the NL and with a winning team."

Castilla's fall from grace is intriguing, but not as much as his rise to stardom from the dusty baseball fields of the Mexican League.

He grew up in the town of Oaxaca and, like most kids in Mexico, tried to play soccer. But Castilla's dad Carlos was into baseball, and eventually so was Vinny.

"When you're a kid, you do whatever your dad does," he said. "We played other sports, but baseball was the sport for me."

Castilla was signed by the Mexican League's Sarapenos de Saltillo in 1987 and slowly developed into a good player. He played for three seasons, hitting .307 with 10 homers and 58 RBIs in 1989 to catch the eye of major-league scouts.

The Braves paid Saltillo a reported $20,000 for his contract and watched Castilla play three unremarkable seasons at shortstop before leaving him exposed in the 1992 expansion draft.

The Rockies grabbed Castilla in the second round and moved him between shortstop and second base for three seasons before trying him out at third in 1995. That year he hit .309 with 32 homers and 90 RBIs and never looked back.

With 211 career home runs, Castilla is the all-time leader among Mexican-born players and is generally regarded as the best hitter from a country known more for its pitching exports, such as Fernando Valenzuela and Teddy Higuera.

"After Fernando Valenzuela, he's the most popular baseball player in Mexico," said Marco Almaraz, who writes for El Norte in Monterrey. "He's a hero."

Castilla has made two trips to Mexico as a major leaguer and remains the center of attention of fans and media alike. He returns to Mexico each offseason to play winter ball and always tries to connect with the fans.

"I appreciate the way the fans support me," Castilla said. "They're with me all the time, good times and bad times. I appreciate that. Any time you have people behind you, especially if they're the same culture you are, it makes you feel better."

While players from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico dominate big-league rosters, Castilla is one of just 14 Mexican-born players in the majors this season. Of those, only five are position players.

"Soccer is the No. 1 sport in Mexico, so all the kids are playing soccer more than baseball, especially in the big cities," said Castilla, who grew up admiring Ozzie Smith and Jose Canseco. "There's not too many major leaguers because most of the kids play soccer."

Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker said that while signing Castilla may attract some of Houston's large Hispanic population to Enron Field, it's what he's capable of doing at the plate that made obtaining him so appealing.

"The decision to take Vinny was primarily based on the fact we had an opportunity to acquire a quality player that would add to an already great lineup," Hunsicker said. "I think the fact he is of Mexican descent and we do have a large Mexican presence here, that will be a side benefit if he comes in here and does well."

Castilla, who is 4-for-16 with one home run in four games with the Astros, has impressed manager Larry Dierker.

"We've seen him quite a bit before as an opposing player, and he's hurt us before," Dierker said. "We've seen him do it both as an opponent and as a member of our club, and I hope it continues."

Castilla says it will if he stays healthy.

"That's my main thing," he said. "If I'm healthy, I can do some things to help this team keep winning."